Semiotics as the science of signs. Its history and components

Definition of "semiotics":

Classical: is the science of signs and sign systems.

According to the method: - this is the application of linguistic methods to objects other than language (everything that surrounds us can be studied like a language)

By subject: - this is what people who call themselves semiotics call semiotics.

Semiotics appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. and from the very beginning it was a metascience, a special kind of superstructure over a whole series of sciences operating with the concept of a sign. Despite the formal institutionalization of semiotics (there is a semiotic association, journals, conferences are regularly held, etc.), its status as a unified science is still debatable. Thus, the interests of semiotics extend to human communication (including using natural language), information and social processes, the functioning and development of culture, all types of art (including fiction), and much more.

The idea of ​​creating a science of signs arose almost simultaneously and independently from several scientists. The founder of semiotics is an American logician, philosopher and naturalist. Ch. Pierce (1839–1914), who suggested its name. Peirce gave the definition of a sign, the initial classification of signs (indexes, icons, symbols), established the tasks and framework of the new science. Peirce's semiotic ideas, presented in a very unconventional and difficult to understand form, and besides, in publications far from the circle of reading of humanities scholars, gained fame only in the 1930s. When they were developed in his fundamental work by another American philosopher - Ch.Morris , which, among other things, determined the structure of semiotics itself. Peirce's approach was further developed in the works of such logicians and philosophers as R. Karnap, A. Tarsky and others.

Somewhat later, the Swiss linguist F. de Saussure (1857–1913) formulated the foundations of semiology, or the science of signs. famous " Course of General Linguistics»(course of lectures) was published by his students after the scientist's death in 1916. The term "semiology" is still used in some traditions (primarily French) as a synonym for semiotics.

In 1923 the German philosopher E. Cassirer published a three-volume work on the philosophy of symbolic forms.

In spite of general idea the need to create a science of signs, ideas about its essence (in particular, among Pierce and Saussure) differed significantly. Peirce presented it as a "universal algebra of relations", i.e. more like a branch of mathematics. Saussure, on the other hand, spoke of semiology as a psychological science, a kind of superstructure, primarily over the humanities.

Semiotics is based on the concept of a sign, understood differently in different traditions. . Vlogico-philosophical tradition , dating back to C. Morris and R. Carnap, a sign is understood as a kind of material carrier representing another entity (in a particular, but most important case, information). In the linguistic tradition , dating back to F. de Saussure and the later works of L. Hjelmslev, a two-sided entity is called a sign. In this case, following Saussure, the material carrier is called the signifier, and what it represents is called the signified of the sign. The terms “form” and “plane of expression” are synonymous with “signifier”, and the terms “content”, “plane of content”, “meaning” and sometimes “meaning” are also used as synonyms for “signified”.

Semiotics is divided into three main areas: syntactic (or syntax), semantics, and pragmatics. Syntactics studies the relationship between signs and their components (we are talking primarily about signifiers). Semantics studies the relationship between the signifier and the signified. Pragmatics studies the relationship between a sign and its users.

In the 20th century semiotics has developed in very different directions. In American semiotics, various non-verbal symbolic systems, such as gestures or animal languages, have become the object of study. In Europe, on the other hand, the tradition originally dominated, going back to Saussure. Semiotics was developed primarily by linguists - L. Elmslev, S.O. Kartsevsky, N.S. Trubetskoy, R.O. Yakobson and others - and literary critics - V.Ya. Propp, Yu.N. Tynyanov, B.M. Eikhenbaum and others. Linguistic methods were also transferred to other areas. Thus, J. Mukarzhovsky used the methods developed in the Prague Linguistic Circle to analyze art as a sign phenomenon. Later, structural methods for the analysis of social and cultural phenomena were used by the French and Italian structuralists R. Barth, A. Greimas, K. Levi-Strauss, W. Eco and others.

Two main semiotic centers interacted in the USSR: in Moscow (Vyach.Vs.Ivanov, V.N.Toporov, V.A.Uspensky and others) and Tartu (Yu.M.Lotman, B.M.Gasparov and others) . At the same time, there is good reason to talk about a single Moscow-Tartu (or Tartu-Moscow) school of semiotics, which united researchers on the basis of both substantive and organizational principles.

The first major semiotic event in the USSR was Symposium on the Structural Study of Sign Systems. It was organized jointly by the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Council on Cybernetics in 1962. The program of the symposium included the following sections: 1) natural language as a sign system; 2) sign systems of writing and deciphering; 3) non-linguistic communication systems; 4) artificial languages; 5) modeling semiotic systems; 6) art as a semiotic system; 7) structural and mathematical study of literary works.

At the symposium, reports were made on machine translation, linguistic and logical semiotics, semiotics of art, mythology, non-verbal communication systems, ritual, etc. The first session was opened by AI Berg. The symposium was attended by P.G. Bogatyrev, A.K. Zholkovsky, A.A. Zaliznyak, Vyach.Vs. Ivanov, Yu.S. , I.I. Revzin, V.Yu. Rozentsveig, B.V. Sukhotin, V.N. Toporov, B.A. Uspensky, T.V.

In Tartu, the center of semiotics became Department of Russian Literature on which they worked M.Yu.Lotman, Z.G. Mints, I.A. Chernov and others. In 1964, the first collection was published here Proceedings on iconic systems, and in the same year the first Summer School on Secondary Sign Systems was held (Language was understood as a primary sign system, while the sign systems built on top of it were considered secondary. The term was proposed by B.A. Uspensky). It brought together two centers, as well as scientists from other cities. Within ten years, five Summer Schools were held. Schools in 1964, 1966 and 1968 were held in Kääriku at the sports base of the University of Tartu, schools in 1970 and 1974 were held in Tartu, the latter being officially called the All-Union Symposium on Secondary Simulation Systems. Much later - in 1986 - another, the last school took place. R. O. Yakobson took part in the second Summer School (1966).

Within the framework of the Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics, two traditions united: the Moscow linguistic and the Leningrad literary criticism, since Yu.M. Lotman and Z.G. Mints belonged to the latter.

The Moscow linguistic tradition was based on the methods of structural linguistics, cybernetics and informatics (in particular, therefore, the concept of a secondary modeling system became one of the main ones). For Yu.M. Lotman, the key concept was the concept of text (primarily artistic), which he extended to the description of culture as a whole.

The initial stage of the work of the Moscow-Tartu School was characterized by an extraordinary variety of topics covered, while the study of “simple” systems was widely represented: road signs, card games, divination, etc. Gradually, however, the interests of the members of the school shifted to "complex" sign systems: mythology, folklore, literature and art. The main conceptual category used in these studies was the text. The semiotic analysis of texts in the broadest sense of the word includes, for example, studies of the main myth (Vyach.Vs.Ivanov, V.N. Toporov), folklore and author's texts (M.I. Lekomtseva, T.M. Nikolaeva, T.V. .Tsivyan and others). Another direction related to this concept is presented in the works of M.Yu. Lotman. In this case, we are talking about the text of culture, and the very concept of culture becomes central, in fact, displacing the concept of language.

Culture is understood as a sign system, which is essentially an intermediary between a person and the surrounding world. It performs the function of selecting and structuring information about the outside world. Accordingly, different cultures may produce such selection and structuring in different ways.

It is this tradition that prevails in modern Russian semiotics, however, with the active use of linguistic methods. So, we can talk about the semiotics of history and culture, based on linguistic principles (T.M. Nikolaeva, Yu.S. Stepanov, N.I. Tolstoy, V.N. Toporov, B.A. Uspensky and others).

The concept of a sign in the theories of foreign and Russian (Russian) scientists.

Starting with Aristotle and the Stoics, the study of signs (especially natural language) begins to gradually separate into a special branch of knowledge. But only the continuation of this tradition by Bl. Augustine leads to its final isolation. For Bl. Augustine, linguistic signs are no less important than witness ones. He introduces the distinction between a sign and a thing as a classification principle. In fact, by doing so, he already anticipated main idea Locke on the division of sciences into those that study signs, and other sciences. Augustine already had the idea that a sign could "denote something else".

Despite the very wide range of semiotic achievements and insights of Augustine, he did not yet have a developed terminology for the theory of signs and there was no common name for it.

Leibniz's manuscripts, which were fully published only in our century, contain the most profound exposition of the principles of general semiotics - "universal characterization" as a science of signs, representing at the same time the field of discrete mathematics. As early as 1678, in a letter to Tschirnhaus, Leibniz wrote that “signs” (or, as he sometimes said in accordance with the terminology of his age, “characters”) “shortly express and, as it were, reflect the deepest nature of a thing and, at the same time, in an amazing way the work of thinking is reduced. In his own system, he “intended to reduce concepts to symbols, symbols to numbers, and finally, by means of numbers and symbols, to subject concepts to symbolic calculation.

After Leibniz and Locke, semiotics became a recognized discipline in the 18th century, and the role of the second of them was clearer to contemporaries. True, not all scientists followed his terminology, but the isolation of the entire field of knowledge was achieved.

Locke proposed a tripartite division of the sciences into physical, practical and semiotic. Locke can be interpreted in two (at least) ways, and this has been done more than once.

First, it can be assumed that the "semiotic" category of sciences, occupied by the most diverse types of signs, is in this sense all-encompassing.

Then semiotics should be understood as a whole group of sciences, the subject of which are signs, or as a general methodology of these sciences.

Secondly, one can agree with Locke's opinion about semiotics as a logical discipline; this view was later echoed by Peirce. All scientists influenced by Locke from Lambert to Husserl (including Peirce) considered semiotics as a philosophical study of signs, close to logic. This point of view has gained particular weight thanks to the work of former members of the Vienna Circle, such as Carnap.

Charles Sanders Pierce (1837–1914) was a logician; his work on semiotics became known as early as the 1930s. Peirce belongs to the division of semiotic signs into indices (signs directly pointing to an object), icons, or iconic signs (signs with a plane of expression similar to the phenomenon of the depicted reality) and symbols (signs with a plane of expression that does not correlate with the designated object). Peirce distinguished the extension, i.e. breadth of concept coverage (sets of objects to which this concept is applicable), and intension, i.e. the depth of the content of the concept. The use of the word "symbol" by Peirce as a term denoting a special kind of signs causes an inconvenient homonymy, because in several European traditions, as in German, French, Russian, the corresponding words were often used in general meaning"sign".

With the French tradition in mind, Malmberg proposed to distinguish semiotics, which studies non-linguistic signs, in contrast to the science of language symbols. The European structural tradition of the linguistic study of natural language signs as part of general semiotics originated in the writings of Saussure (and then developed by several currents of structuralism).

The system, built from signs in abstraction from real texts, was the focus of Saussure and his followers like Hjelmslev.

Hjelmslev begins with the need for an immanent (internal logical) consideration of the sign system, which would make it possible to study from a single general point of view, along with the natural language of such different areas like literature, visual arts, music, logic and mathematics. In each system, a set of some abstract relations characteristic of it, such as commutation, should be identified, with the help of which the relationship between its different sides is studied in the language - the plane of expression and the plane of content.

Hjelmslev noted the special privileged position of natural language among other systems of signs. This is determined by the fact that all other semiotic systems can be translated into it. This is due to the exceptional freedom of the formation of new linguistic signs and their ability to combine in arbitrarily long sequences. Non-interpretable (in the logical-mathematical sense) sign systems (such as games), according to Hjelmslev, occupy a position different from language, they clearly manifest the immanent nature of pure structure as such.

Sapir avoids using the term "sign", and in the meaning of the latter he constantly uses the word "symbol" in the widest sense, covering all possible types of signs.

Levi-Strauss will turn to the rational study of sign structures (myths, rituals, institutions) that are not recognized by the members of those collectives that use them.

SEMIOTICS IN RUSSIA. GENERAL OUTLINE

Potebnya, constantly made comparisons of natural language with other systems of signs, compared the presence of such constructions with the underdevelopment of perspective in the visual arts.

For Potebnya, both in grammatical theory and in studies on poetics, folklore and mythology, the orientation primarily on the meaning of the sign was essential.

Further development of these ideas in the Moscow-Tartu semiotic works led to the introduction of the concept of "secondary modeling systems": they meant systems whose signs were built on top of linguistic signs.

Florensky builds his general theory of symbols and signs and sets out in detail some of its more specialized parts, in particular, those devoted to the structure of works of fine art.

Like Florensky, the area of ​​study of signs as a special subject of study was singled out in his philosophical works by Shpet, who general outlook follower of Husserl's phenomenology. In accordance with Husserl's ideas, he considered the words or signs replacing them as a "universal layer", which determines the initial data of any knowledge.

Shpet was the first Russian philosopher who gave a detailed justification for the need to study signs as a special sphere. scientific knowledge and outlining the principles of the phenomenological and hermeneutic approach to it, which has again attracted the attention of researchers in recent years.

Shpet came to the conclusion that “the sphere of ethnic psychology is a priori outlined as a sphere accessible to us through the understanding of a certain system of signs, therefore, its subject is comprehended only by deciphering and interpreting these signs. That these signs are not only signs of things, but also messages.

The most detailed concept of culture as a system of signs that serve to control behavior was put forward in the early 1930s. Vygotsky.

In Moscow and Tartu, from the very beginning, the text was also considered as a subject for analysis, which can consist of individual signs and in this sense is secondary (built on top of the language and belongs to the secondary sign system). Mythological and religious symbols, motifs and texts have been the main object of study for a significant group of semioticians in Moscow over the past forty years.

1962 – the first symposium on the structural study of sign systems in Moscow. Fiction as a system of signs and texts was one of the main problems around which the Moscow semiotic group after the symposium of 1962. unites with Tartu. The culture of a certain country and era was considered as a system of sign systems and as an object of semiotic research.

Bakhtin argued that the meanings that all the sciences of man are concerned with are always expressed in signs: “whatever these meanings may be, they must take on some kind of temporal-spatial expression, i.e. take on a symbolic form that we can hear and see.”

Bakhtin’s interest in meanings and meanings, for the expression of which signs are needed, makes him especially close to modern science, which has long since passed the period of purely syntactic study of signs in their relationships with each other and has moved on to the search for methods of adequate semantic descriptions of language and other semiotic systems. Bakhtin associated the meanings of signs with their value.

One of the main achievements of Bakhtin's early work in the field of the study of signs was the establishment of a fundamental difference between the sign as an element of a system and the sign in a concrete utterance.

In an absolutely precise sense, the revival of the fading interest in the science of signs in the whole world in the early 1960s is associated with the personality of Jacobson.

Jacobson insists that the division into three main types of signs - symbols, indexes (pointers) and iconic signs is not rigid and absolute. Moreover, in signs such as natural language words, each of these functions can be combined in different proportions.

Semiotics and semantics (subject, scientific apparatus).

Semantics is a branch of semiotics that studies the relationship between sign and meaning. The main subject of semantics is the interpretation of signs and their combinations. Semantics studies the relationship between the signifier and the signified.

Thing semantics is defined differently in various semiotic and linguistic concepts, however, these differences are determined, first of all, by the very definition of the sign and the idea of ​​the reality that is denoted. Semantics, as a rule, is considered within the framework of the interdisciplinary field of studies of signs and sign systems of semiotics, together with its two other sections: syntactic and pragmatics. Therefore, the concept of semiotics is broader than that of semantics.

Of the basic views on the nature of the sign underlying semantic constructions, it is necessary to single out those that were formulated at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the works of G. Frege and F. de Saussure. Their concepts still define research methods and terminology in linguistics, semiotics and logic.

Semantics and semiotics have a relatively young age in the status of a separate field of scientific knowledge. Its birth can be dated to the beginning of the 20th century, when the works of C. Pierce, C. Morris and F. Saussure saw the light. Having hardly taken shape as a scientific discipline, semiotics very quickly disintegrated into many private semiotics, in which its philosophical content faded into the background.

On the one hand, there are many works in which the problems of semantics and semiotics are rather closely considered (R.G. Avoyan, E.R. Atayan, A.A. Brudny, I.S. Narsky, G.G. Pocheptsov, Yu. M. Lotman), there is also an original domestic tradition of linguistic semiotics (N.D. Arutyunova, T.V. Bulygina, V.G. Gak, Yu.S. Stepanov). Separately, the Moscow-Tartu semiotic school should also be mentioned, which successfully applied the principles of theoretical semiotics to the analysis of a wide variety of sign systems, including literary texts, ignored by the Western tradition.

A peculiar image of the language arises in the religious and philosophical concept of the school of unity, represented by the names of P.A. Florensky, S.N. Bulgakov, A.F. Losev. The original perspective of language analysis is given in the works of M.M. Bakhtin, where the main emphasis is on the study of the understanding of a speech message as a comprehension of the relationship of "I" to "Not-I". On the other hand, an appeal to Russian literature on epistemology and philosophical anthropology shows that the language in it is rather a topic than a subject.

The development of science has led to the introduction into natural languages ​​of special graphic signs used to abbreviate scientific concepts (for example, mathematical, chemical, etc. signs). Artificial languages ​​are often built from signs of this kind. Among artificial sign systems, one can single out signs of code systems designed to encode ordinary speech or recode already encoded messages (codes used for programs of cybernetic devices). Artificial sign systems include signs of formulas used in the sciences (for example, signs of formal logical systems, signs of information-logical languages, signs for modeling continuous processes, in particular, curves that display continuous changes occurring in any objects, signaling signs, included in the traffic signaling system).

The elementary object of study of linguistic semantics is the unity of the three elements of a linguistic sign (primarily the word): signifier, denotation, signified. An external element (a sequence of sounds or graphic signs) - a signifier - is associated with the designated object, a phenomenon of reality - a denotation (as well as a referent - an object, a phenomenon denoted by a given linguistic unit as part of an utterance; an object or situation denoted by the utterance as a whole), and, secondly, with the reflection of this object, the phenomenon in the mind of a person - signified. The signified is the result of social cognition of reality and is usually identical to a concept, sometimes to a representation. The triple link - "signifier - denotation - signified" constitutes the category of meaning, the basic unit (cell) of semantics.

It is the science of semantics that is engaged in the study of meaning, the study of the properties of objects to perform the function of signs, the creation of a general theory of signs in all their manifestations, which is the task of the science of semiotics, which is a synthesis of philosophical, linguistic and cultural ideas.

Semiotics and semiology.

Vthingsemiotics includes the symbolic embodiment of communication processes, i.e., the laws of semiosis (meaning) in all spheres of natural and social life.

To creation semiotics as a science of signs were not only philosophers, but also linguists. For example, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), a prominent linguist, expressed the idea of ​​a science that studies the life of signs within the life of society, which he called semiology. "Semiology- this is the science of signs, which studies what happens when a person tries to convey his thought by means that are inevitably conditional, ”wrote F. de Saussure in his“ Course of General Linguistics ”. "It must reveal to us what the signs are, by what laws they are governed." Saussure believed that linguistics can be considered as an integral part of semiology (or semiotics), the purpose of which is to study the nature of signs and the laws that govern them. According to Saussure, the sign is the link between the concept and the acoustic image.

One of the main provisions of the theory of F. de Saussure is the distinction between language and speech. Saussure called the language common to all speakers a set of tools used in the construction of phrases in a given language; speech - specific statements of individual native speakers.

A linguistic sign consists of a signifier (acoustic image) and a signified (concept). Saussure compares language to a sheet of paper. Thought is its front side, sound is its back; You can't cut the front side without cutting the back side as well. Thus, Saussure's idea of ​​a sign and his concept as a whole are based on the dichotomy (bifurcation, sequential division into two parts that are not interconnected) signifier-signified.

Saussure proposed to clearly distinguish two approaches to language learning as a sign system: synchronous (the study of a language taken at a certain historical moment, as a ready-made system of interrelated and interdependent elements: lexical, grammatical and phonetic, which have value or significance) and diachronic (the study of changes in the language in the process of its development ).

In Saussure's semiology, linguistics serves as a model for all semiology as a whole. Although language is only one of many semiological systems. And if this is so, then the very process of creating texts cannot go beyond the boundaries of the language, more precisely, languages ​​created according to the linguistic model. In semiotics, the very process of text formation can be understood as the deconstruction of language, i.e., the loss of the language of its direct form and existence in a transformed form. With all the modifications, semiology retains its indestructible status as a science of language systems. Semiotics, on the other hand, initially has a dual status, which C. Morris wrote about. It is a general theory of signs and, at the same time, a system of specific applications to the study of signs in a particular area.

Semiotics and pragmatics (subject, scientific apparatus).

The status of semiotics and its main problems are symbolism, its origin and essence, its cognitive and general cultural role, as well as the nature, structure and functions of the sign, the connection between the sign, meaning and object.

Pragmatics is a branch of semiotics that studies the relationship of signs to the subjects that produce and interpret them. Pragmatics, as a rule, is considered within the framework of the interdisciplinary field of studies of signs and sign systems of semiotics together with its two other sections: semantics and syntactics. The first of them considers signs in their relation to designated (not having a sign nature) objects, the second - the relationship of signs (syntax). most important subject study for pragmatics is the pragmatic aspect of language.

The person is the sender, the person is the recipient.

Pragmatics is associated with the study of the category of utility, value, understandability of a sign, as well as with the study of semantic information, where the question of evaluating the information extracted by a given addressee from a text plays a significant role.

Semiotics(semiology) is a scientific discipline that studies the general in the structure and functioning of various linguistic sign, that is, semiotic subsystems that store and transmit information.

Semiotics- the science of signs and sign systems. This interdisciplinary science arose at the intersection of linguistics, information theory, psychology, biology, literature, and sociology.

Semiotics originated in late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. The founders of semiotics are the American philosopher and logician Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914) and Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). It is usually believed that it was Peirce, who was so fond of creating new terms, that we owe the term "semiotics" (although in fact this term was proposed by Locke , in the last lines of his Essay on Human Understanding). Saussure gave new science the name "semiology", which has become more widespread in theoretical linguistics.

Semiotic systems operate in:

1) human society (language and some cultural phenomena - customs, rituals);

2) nature (communication in the animal world);

3) man (visual and auditory perception of objects).

Semiotics happens:

- humanitarian (language and literature);

- formal (logic-mathematical, applied computer).

Works of fiction can be examined along 2 lines:

As an object of specifically historical and literary and historical-literary analysis;

As an object of semiotic analysis (language of fiction).

Basic The corpus of humanitarian semiotics consists of 2 sets of concepts :

1) semiotic patterns

2) semiotic articulation

TO semiotic patterns relate:

- oppositions of all the main elements of the linguistic semiotic system , i.e. phonemes, morphemes, words, types of sentences and intonations.

The oppositions of these elements reveal differential features (for example: “drink” and “beat” - differentiation of deafness and sonority). The procedure of research by substitutions is called commutation.

- isomorphism - structural similarity of the form of expression and the form of content (for example: the strength of sound corresponds to the strength of emotions).

Exists 3 semiotic articulations (proposed by Charles William Morris) :

- syntactics - relations between signs, mainly in the speech chain;

- semantics - the relationship between the bearer sign, the subject of designation and the concept of the subject;

- pragmatics - the relationship between signs and those who use them. 2 centers are being investigated: the subject of speech and the addressee.

* Semiology F. de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure defines the semiology he created as "the science that studies the life of signs within the framework of the life of society." "It must reveal to us what the signs are and by what laws they are governed."

One of the main provisions of the theory of F. de Saussure is the distinction between language and speech. Language (la langue) Saussure called a set of means common to all speakers used in constructing phrases in a given language; speech (la parole) - specific statements of individual native speakers.

A linguistic sign consists of a signifier (acoustic image) and a signified (concept). Saussure compares language to a sheet of paper. Thought is its front side, sound is its back; You can't cut the front side without cutting the back side as well. Thus, Saussure's idea of ​​the sign and his conception as a whole are based on the signifier-signified dichotomy.

Language is a system of meanings. Meaning is what the signified is for the signifier; the significance of a sign arises from its relations with other signs of the language. If we use a comparison of a sign with a sheet of paper, then the value should be correlated with the relationship between the front and back of the sheet, and the significance - with the relationship between several sheets.

There are two kinds of meanings based on two kinds of relationships and differences between the elements of a language system. These are syntagmatic and associative relations. Syntagmatic relationships are the relationships between next friend after another in the flow of speech by language units, that is, relationships within a series of language units that exist in time. Such combinations of linguistic units are called syntagmas. Associative relations exist outside the process of speech, outside of time. These are relations of generality, similarity between linguistic units in meaning and in sound, either only in meaning, or only in sound in one way or another.

Semiotics of C. S. Pierce

Charles Sanders Peirce tried to characterize a number of important semiotic concepts (the concept of a sign, its meaning, sign relationship, etc.). He clearly realized that this area of ​​research should be the subject of a special science - semiotics, which he defined as the doctrine of the nature and main varieties of sign processes.

In particular, Peirce created the basic classification of signs for semiotics:

1) signs-icons (icon, od Greek eikon - "image"), figurative signs in which the signified and the signifier are interconnected in similarity. For example, a sign that warns drivers against driving fast near schools, kindergartens, depicts two children;

2) index signs (Latin index - "index finger"), in which the signified and the signifier are interconnected by location in time and / or space. The most obvious example of such a sign is the road sign, which gives travelers information about the name of the nearest locality(for example, Vasyuki) and the direction in which you need to go to get to Vasyuki. Facial expression - for example, wrinkled eyebrows - is also an index sign, because it "points" to emotional condition human: anger;

3) signs-symbols (symbol), in which the signified and the signifier are interconnected within the framework of some convention, that is, as if by prior agreement. For instance, road sign, which depicts an "inverted" triangle, has no natural connection with the shape and meaning of "give way". National flags are also examples of such conventions. Symbols include all words of all languages, with the exception of imitation words.

It appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. and from the very beginning it was a metascience, a special kind of superstructure over a whole series of sciences operating with the concept of a sign. Interests semiotics apply to human communication, animal communication, information and social processes, the functioning and development of culture, all types of art (including fiction) and much more.

The idea of ​​creating a science of signs arose almost simultaneously and independently from several scientists. Founder semiotics considered an American logician, philosopher and naturalist C. Pierce(1839-1914), who suggested its name. C. Pierce gave the definition of the sign, the classification of signs (indices, icons, symbols), set the tasks and framework of the new science.

This classification is based on the typology of content form correlation.

So, icons(or iconic signs) are called necks, whose form and content are similar qualitatively or structurally.

Indices(or indexical signs) are signs whose form and content are contiguous in space or time.

Symbols(or) name signs for which the connection between form and content is established arbitrarily, by agreement relating to this particular sign.

Despite the general idea of ​​the need to create sign sciences, ideas about its essence varied significantly; measures C. Pierce represented it as a "universal algebra of knowledge", i.e. more like a branch of mathematics. Saussure he spoke about semiology as a psychological science, a kind of superstructure, of everything, over the humanities.

Read also: empirical research.

Semiotics is divided into three main areas: syntax(or syntax), semantics and pragmatics.

Syntactics studies the relationship between signs and their components (we are talking primarily about signifiers). Semantics studies the relationship between the signifier and the signified. Pragmatics studies the relationship between a sign and its users.

Another key concept of semiotics is sign process, or semiosis. Semiosis is defined as a certain situation that includes a certain set of components. Semiosis is based on the intention of person A to send message C to person B. Person A is called the sender of the message, person B is called its recipient, or addressee. The sender chooses the medium G (or communication channel) through which the message and code D will be transmitted.

Code D, in particular, specifies the correspondence of signifiers and signifiers, i.e. specifies a character set. The code must be chosen in such a way that, with the help of the corresponding signifiers, the required message can be composed. The environment and signifiers of the code must also match. The code must be known to the recipient, and the environment and signifiers must be accessible to his perception.

Read also: Christianity is the oldest brand

Thus, perceiving the signifiers sent by the sender, the receiver, with the help of a code, translates them into signifieds and thereby receives the message. A special case of semiosis is speech communication (or a speech act), and a special case of code is natural language. Then the sender is called the speaker, the receiver is called the listener, or also the addressee, and the signs are called linguistic signs. Code (including language) is a system that includes the structure of signs and the rules for its functioning. The structure, in turn, consists of the signs themselves and the relationships between them (sometimes they also talk about the rules of combination).

In fact, the sign has two sides that cannot be separated from each other. One side is what the sign stands for (signified, content), and the other is what it stands for (signifier, form). The product is also a sign. Its form is what can be perceived by the senses (taste, color, smell, size, weight, etc.), and the content includes all those features (significates) that are important for this product (function, purpose, price, quality evidence, product impression, etc.).

Section 1 Introduction

1. Semiotics as a science. Object and subject of semiotics. Key semiotic concepts.

2. Main problems of semiotics. The problem of the sign from the point of view of different areas of scientific knowledge. The facts that semiotics studies.

Keywords

Semiotics, object and subject of semiotics, sign, sign systems, natural sign systems, linear sign systems, open sign systems, closed sign systems, spontaneously created sign systems, operational sign systems, semiotic code, semiotic model, sign situation.

Competency requirements:

- know and understand the object and subject of semiotics, be able to use the acquired knowledge in professional activities;

- be able to present systematically key concepts semiotics;

- know how the sign problem is solved from the points of view of different fields of science.

§ one

When we meet the name of a science, it usually tells us something. What does the word “semiotics” tell us?

When embarking on the study of semiotics, one must keep in mind that this term has several meanings.

Semiotics (from Greek sēmėion - sign, sign):

1) a science that studies the properties of signs and sign systems in human society (mainly natural and artificial languages, as well as some cultural phenomena), nature (communication in the animal world) or in man himself (visual and auditory perception, etc.);

2) the science of symptoms in medicine.

Ferdinand de Saussure called this science "semiology". This term long time existed in French-speaking countries as a parallel to semiotics, but since the 70s. 20th century Roland Barthes proposed to distinguish between these concepts.

To prove the independence or non-independence of a scientific discipline, it is necessary to consider the object and subject of its study.

Object of semiotics - signs and systems of signs: for example, natural and artificial languages, metalanguages ​​(languages ​​of science), proto-languages ​​(languages ​​of animals), secondary languages ​​(languages ​​of culture, art), "body language" (gesture language, facial expressions), language of flowers, language of tattoos etc.

Subject study semiotics are patterns, trends, features of the emergence and functioning of signs and sign systems in sign behavior (i.e., using signs) and sign communication.

Key concepts of semiotics: sign, sign system, semiotic code, semiotic model, sign situation.

Sign – it is a material object used to convey information.

In other words, everything with which we can and want to communicate something to each other is sign . For example, smoke over chimney indicates whether the stove or fireplace is heated. At the same time, smoke escaping from the window is a trace of a fire.

In order for an object (or event) to receive the function of a sign, to signify something, a person must first agree with another person, the recipient of this sign. Otherwise, the addressee may simply not understand that there is a sign in front of him. For example, a flower on a window can be either just an element of decor (this is not a sign), or a signal “turnout failed” (this is already a sign).

According to A. Solomonik, sign – someone or something that testifies to something other than himself. A sign is a sign, depicts, designates, fixes or encodes this something (its referent or signified) in the human mind (interpreter). The sign not only designates its referent, but also describes (characterizes) it, and also acts instead of it as its permanent representative when processed in various sign systems.

Under denoted (referent) understood - what is indicated by the sign.

Interpreter - a person who perceives signs and sign systems. It is human consciousness that is required to understand the content of a sign, correlate it with the referent and process it according to the rules of the system. Any event or object can be perceived as a sign, but this requires an interpreter.

The choice of the form of a sign is often determined by the intentions of the sender of the message and the possibilities available to him. Encoding a message, its author is forced to be guided by the rules provided to him by the system of signs within which he operates. A person can declare his love with words, but he can arrange a concert for his chosen one under the windows, send her flowers, or find another version of iconic opportunities. If a person uses Morse code, then he uses the signs of this alphabet, taking into account all their parameters: the accepted form of the sign, its place among other signs of the system, all its syntactic and hierarchical characteristics, etc. So, the first letter of a new word must be separated from the one transmitted earlier words, which is shown by the corresponding pause and sign, and in ordinary writing by the interval between words. Initial the Russian sentence is always capitalized, the paragraph is written on a new line and is indented, etc. All this affects the form of the character used and must be accepted for execution in order to correctly compose and convey the message.

By what it stands for (its real-world referent);

Its reflection in the brain of the individual using this sign;

Its reflection in the piggy bank of human experience and a place in the corresponding sign system.

In the content of the sign, two terms should be distinguished: denotation and connotation (from English words to denote - "display", "show" and connote - "transfer", "mean"). Each sign contains information about what kind of referent is depicted in the sign (the denotational part of the sign) and what are the characteristics of this referent (the connotational component of the sign). These two parts are present in signs in different ways. different levels abstractions, the connections of these two parts in signs of different levels are also different.

Under sign system understand a set of signs united among themselves various types connections. A sign system is created to process the characters included in it according to certain algorithms specified in the metalanguage of the system.

Depending on the basis of classification, sign systems can be divided as follows (according to A. Solomonik):

1) according to the degree of abstractness of the sign:

natural;

figurative;

Language;

Recording systems;

Formalized systems with fixed symbols;

Formalized systems with variable symbols;

2) according to the construction method:

Built linearly (sequentially);

Broken into periodically repeating rows;

Consisting of various groups of characters with special algorithms for their processing;

3) by openness (closedness):

open;

closed;

4) according to the method of creation:

Sign systems that arose spontaneously;

Created according to a pre-conceived plan;

5) according to the scope of application:

Accepted as languages ​​for data processing (text codes);

Systems designed for this particular case.

So, natural sign systems - systems whose basic sign is the phenomena themselves or their parts. An example of such systems is the rules traffic; symptoms of a disease, etc.

Periodically constructed sign systems - systems having a matrix structure. When building such systems, at least two structural parameters are used, as in periodic table chemical elements. Along with periodic ones, there are linearly constructed sign systems and systems that collect various groups of signs in a single field, each of which is processed according to its own algorithms.

Linear sign systems - a single sequential set of characters, for example, an alphabet, a directory, etc.

Open sign systems – systems inherently predisposed to adding or abbreviating characters. For example, the telephone directory can always be supplemented or shortened.

Closed sign systems - systems that have a strictly defined number of characters. For example, there are only 33 letters in the modern Russian alphabet.

Spontaneously created sign systems - systems that arose spontaneously, spontaneously, and not according to a premeditated plan. The task of scientists involved in the ordering of such systems is to bring them into line with the system's later emerging metalanguage.

Operating sign systems - systems created for a specific case. Labels on goods, instructions for carrying out business operations, etc. can serve as examples. Their algorithms depend both on a specific ontological situation and on the signs used in them.

Algorithm in semiotics, a system of rules that determines the content and sequence of actions for processing signs (groups of signs) that encode related objects or phenomena. There may be several algorithms in the system for different groups signs, as in the Rules of the road. One of the main characteristics of the algorithm is the degree of its rigidity: the more abstract the system, the stricter the encodings of the rules for processing characters become. In systems of the highest degree of abstraction, algorithms take the form of formulas.

Semiotic code has three meanings:

1) Any semiotic system that is text code (language code, mathematical code, etc.).

2) Only a mathematical system-code, that is, a system of the highest degree of abstraction.

3) Systems of secret ciphers, which are specially served by signs that are incomprehensible to the uninitiated.

Sign Model - a visual representation of the sign in its various connections and relationships. There are three main types of sign models:

1) the model of an individual sign shows its connections with the signified and with the reflection of the latter in the mind of the interpreter;

2) the model of a sign in a sign system includes the relationship of signs to each other in the context of the system composed of them;

3) the model of the sign in semiotic reality reflects the place of the sign and the sign system in the total collection of semiotic results obtained throughout human history.

The situation in which the sign is used is called landmark situation. Designation by signs (semiosis) - the process by which a sign appears. This process is connected, on the one hand, with ontological reality, and, on the other hand, with the ideal world of our consciousness. The result is semiotic reality.

§ 2

The main problems of semiotics: semiotics explores non-specific signs in specific sign situations. It defines the concept of a sign in general, establishes the types of signs, describes typical sign situations, the most common ways use of signs, etc. Semiotics is interested a common problem sign as a comprehensive concept in relation to individual subclasses of signs.

On the one hand, without strict concepts of sign, language, etc., created by semiotics, a deep analysis of specific facts related to the field of a separate science is impossible. And on the other hand, taking into account the data of various specific sciences, semiotics formulates general laws related to signs on their basis. Semiotics does not summarize, but generalizes.

Semiotic reality is a reality that exists in the form of signs and sign systems. It is studied by semiotics on the basis of the achievements of all other sciences. It is as material as the ontological reality, and opposes the ideal, mental constructions of our consciousness (concepts).

Signs play a paramount role in the life of animals and humans. Without the use of signs, neither would be possible various forms animal behavior, nor practical and theoretical activity person. When we greet someone, we say “hello”, nod our heads, extend our hand for a shake. Scout bee, finding a field with flowering plants, upon returning, describes the eights in front of his relatives: the number of eights, their elongation will indicate both the direction and the distance to the field. Everyone knows the signs of the goodwill of dogs and cats.

The activity of computers and other computers is entirely reduced to the transformation of one group of characters into another according to a given program. It is not surprising, therefore, that signs are the subject of analysis in many sciences: linguistics, psychology, logic, pathopsychology, biology, cybernetics, sociology, and so on.

However, each of the sciences considers the sign and its use from a certain point of view.

Linguistics is interested mainly in linguistic signs.

Psychology elucidates the features of the functioning of signs in animals, traces the emergence and development of sign situations in a child, and raises the question of the relationship of sign activity with other mental functions.

Mathematical logic takes into account only the role of signs in the construction of special systems, with the help of which it explores logical laws.

None of the sciences covers the problem of the sign as a whole.

In addition, within each branch of scientific knowledge, their own interpretations of sign are possible. As G. Vetrov notes: “The diversity of the proposed definitions is striking. For example, any student of linguistics is struck by the many definitions of language by different linguists. For some, language is a system of concepts about language activity, knowledge, science; for others, on the contrary, it is not knowledge, but a set of language skills, in accordance with which we use and create language products; for the third - a set of acts speech activity; for the fourth - a set of statements, a set of sentences (finite or infinite). At the same time, in specific definitions that implement one or another understanding of the nature of the language, a wide variety of features are indicated. Thus, K. Buhler defines language by means of four features (the versatility of language as an organon, its multi-stage nature as a set of signs, etc.), K. Pike resorts to the concept of a system of morphemes, A. Martinet - to the concept of moneme and phoneme, L. Elmslev - to the concept of structure, V. Pisani - to the concept of the isogloss system, A. Schleicher and others base the definition of language on its relation to thought, Hartung and Vater - its communicative function, S. Potter, as well as B. Block and J. Treger refer to concepts communicative function and arbitrary vocal symbols, P. Ering - on the concepts of classes of signs and classes of meanings, L. Zavadovsky - on the concept of a grammatical and universal semantic system, Pos, G. Stern and others use the concepts of a system of words and rules for their association, etc. and etc.”

Semiotics is precisely designed to eliminate the existing disparity in concepts. Summarizing the data of many sciences, it must develop precise, unambiguous definitions that could be equally used by a linguist, a psychologist, and a logician, i.e. representative of any science.

Semiotic approach to communication

Semiotics as a science about the properties of a sign in communications

Communication can be carried out in the process of any activity using various sign methods, for example, speech, gestures, Morse code and other symbols. Semiotics is the study of such sign systems.

Semiotics(Greek "sign, sign") is a science that studies general properties signs, the structure and functioning of sign systems capable of storing and transmitting information.

The historical roots of semiotics go back centuries, but only in the 19th century. it receives a primary theoretical justification. American philosopher Ch.S. Peirce substantiated a number of key semiotic concepts - a sign, its properties and meaning, the relations of signs and their classification, and defined semiotics as the doctrine of the nature and varieties of sign processes. Almost simultaneously, since the end of the last century, the idea of ​​the need to build a theory of signs and to single out a special scientific discipline of "semiology" was repeatedly expressed by the famous Swiss linguist F. de Saussure. He believed that this science should study the life of signs within the life of society and, emphasizing the importance of studying linguistic signs and their social conditioning, he believed that linguistics should become part of semiology.

If Peirce is considered the founder of semiotics as the doctrine of the essence and main types of sign designation, including in mathematical logic, and Saussure is the forerunner of meaningful, humanitarian semiology (currently the terms are synonymous), then the honor of the founder of semiotics as an "interdisciplinary sphere" belongs to the American philosopher C. Morris. Paying tribute to his predecessors, in particular Peirce, he gave a detailed justification of semiotics as "the general theory of signs in all their forms and manifestations: both in humans and animals, both in normal and pathological conditions, both in language and outside of him, both in the individual and in society.

Further implementation of the principles of the semiotic approach to the study of heterogeneous sign systems showed that semiotics, based on the specific data of many sciences, is not so much an "interdisciplinary field" (C. Morris) as an integrative one. It proceeds from the concept of a sign in general, abstracting from its specific features - it does not summarize them, but generalizes them. This makes it possible to develop general principles in the processes of "meaning", the essential regularities in the relations of signs, so important for further development various sciences.

Being in the process of formation, semiotics has various interpretations. Currently, the term "semiotics" is used in two meanings: 1.) a scientific discipline that studies the general structure and functioning of various sign systems, and 2) a system of an object considered from the position of semiotics as a science. Semiotics studies the general in sign systems functioning in human society, for example, in verbal language, the language of the deaf and dumb, in sea and road signals; v communication systems animals, birds, insects (dances of bees, tactile signals of ants); in systems of cybernetic devices. The study of this or that object as a semiotic system allows us to speak about the semiotics of a film or poetry by M. Tsvetaeva, about the semiotics of customs, rituals, appeals, etc. From the point of view of semiotics, a person is also a functioning system with a complex structure, and such features of his activity and behavior, such as visual and auditory perception, figurative representation, logical reasoning, social orientation, can be considered from the standpoint of a general theory of signs.

Sections of science:

Semantics- studies the relationship between signs and designated objects - outside world and inner world person, i.e. content of signs.

Syntax- studies the relationship between signs, i.e. internal properties sign systems (rules for constructing signs within a sign system).

Pragmatics- the science of the use of signs, studies the relationship between a sign and a person, that is, those who use signs: speaking, listening, writing, reading.

The division into semantics, syntactics and pragmatics was introduced by the American philosopher C. Morris.

The semantics of communications specifies the meaning of words and symbols, the syntax of communications refers to the relationship between the symbols used, and the pragmatics of communications reveals their effectiveness and efficiency.

For example, pragmatics characteristic mass communication is manifested in the fact that it implements two basic functions of mass communication - interaction and influence.

The construction of a coherent theory of understanding the language makes it necessary to determine the relationship between pragmatics and semantics. Semantics, being a branch of semiotics, deals with the analysis of a complex of interconnected concepts. Semantics studies the meaning of language units (words, combinations of words), answers the questions: “What does this or that concept (term), statement, judgment mean?”. The object of its analysis is a sign, a fragment of text. Finding the subject meaning (denotation) for any name provides essential information about this name, but, nevertheless, this does not exhaust the semantic problems. The subject meaning indicates the scope of the concept indicated by the given name, but does not explain its content.

Another branch of semiotics - syntactics considers structural properties sign systems in terms of their syntax (regardless of their meanings and functions). Syntactic links within a simple sentence are built as chains related words. Such connections are formed on the basis of subordination and composition. Complex sentences can be built simultaneously on the basis of subordination and composition, or only on the basis of one attribute (complex, complex sentences). Submission is homogeneous when both parts of the sentence are in equilibrium, or heterogeneous when several subordination refer to the main element, defining it in their own way.